Going above and beyond for their students is nothing new for teachers. In fact, it’s what many expect when they go into the profession. (Lord knows it’s not for the cash flow.)Teachers in 1852 probably brought in extra clothes and extra coal for the fire from home, just like teachers today often provide their own school supplies and snacks for hungry kids.

One such teacher—Carly Jo Calace, an elementary school teacher in Anchorage, Alaska—recently wrote a viral Facebook post that highlighted just what a teacher faces in any given week. Read her words and tell me again that teachers make enough money and have it “so good” because they “get summers off.”

Calace opens her post by describing the devastating and disturbing things that for many of her students just mean regular life.

This week in my classroom…

– I sent a child to the nurse in the morning. She had a 102 fever and threw up. No one could reach her parents the entire day. They never came to get her after school. The nurse walked her home and the parents didn’t even come to the door to find out why.
– A previous student from last year visited me during lunch. She told me all about how her cousin was murdered last night. Everyone is crying and sad. They’re going to see the body today. She spent her entire recess and my whole lunch break with me just chatting.
– One of my students and his mother were kicked out his aunt’s trailer home and had to move into a shelter. Luckily we can provide special busing so he can still come to our school.

She goes on to describe a student attending school in the same unwashed clothes for several days in a row, how one student’s father walked out on the family and hasn’t been seen since, and how another has to hide grocery money from Grandpa who steals it to buy cigarettes.

The is the reality for America’s children in every state. Maybe not in your family, or in your school. (Or maybe you just don’t know about it.) But even if your school is full of affluent, well-dressed, and well-fed kids, that doesn’t mean they all go home to a stable, loving family. And that doesn’t mean there isn’t a school 10 miles down the road with not enough books or desks for its students.

Calace goes on to describe more scenarios:

– A little girl asked to grab 2 pears instead of one because she worried her mom was too tired to the grocery store again. I gave her a bag of extra food and snacks that the school keeps around. Good thing we give all of our students free breakfast and lunch.
– A little boy showed up with a shaved head. He was so embarrassed that he refused to take his hood off his head. Eventually he told me his mom shaved his head because his aunt has lice so badly that you can see the bugs jumping around. He was terrified of the lice crawling into his ears and getting into his brain. A little research together during recess put his fears to bed.
– Another student shared that, when her dad gets out of jail, he’s bringing her to Dave N’ Busters. We started her a countdown on our class calendar.

In fact, she adds, five of her 28 students have a parent who is currently or recently has been incarcerated. Let that statistic sink in. Here is a woman trying to motivate 28 young people to focus, do their best, and care about addition or spelling lists. And 18% of them have to think about Mommy or Daddy in prison while they try to remember “i before e except after c.”

Calace’s powerful and heartbreaking post is speaking to those who scoff at public schools, or don’t see the value in funding them or supporting their teachers. “Maybe schools have to be more than a place to learn for some kids,” she says. “Support public schools – they’re doing more for kids than you can even begin to understand.”

These teachers are often parents to children who barely get any parenting at home. They may provide food or clothing—basic needs—to their students, knowing full well that a school 30 minutes away can afford a brand new iPad for each child.

Calace added follow-up statements to her original post, including a response to the blame-game many Facebook commenters were playing. “As adults, parents do need to take responsibility for the care of their own children,” she says. “That being said, the students in my classroom today – the sweet, broken children that you want to hug and love so much – will, statistically speaking, likely grow-up to become adults just like their parents. The cycle will continue and one day their children will be my students, repeating their parents’ same sad story. Rather than focus on the faults of the parents, I think we need to shift our focus to ending the cycle. Research supports the huge difference one consistent, caring adult can have in the life of a child. Find a child in need – be that adult. Stop the cycle.”

The cycle of poverty and neglect is toxic and damn near impossible to break out of. Very often a child who grows up without proper parenting has no idea how to parent himself when he gets there, 10-20 years later. The trap these kids are in can be vicious and as strong as steel. But even steel can bend with enough force.

Calace implores us to be that force. To break down the walls built up around these kids. Help them see a future—help them see that they have a chance and that there is a way out. It may not be an easy road, but if an adult who believes in them holds their hand and cares, they may grow up to be parents who have enough food and clean clothes for their kids. They may become parents who show up. And who see teachers like Carly Jo Calace and say thank you for being there.

Please support America’s public schools. Please step up and help our teachers because they are trying to save our kids. The future of our country is on their shoulders, in those classrooms, but they can’t do this alone.